SAMPLE CASE BRIEF

CITATION

Goodwyn v. Goodwyn, 222 Va.53, 278 S.E.2d 813(1981)

FACTS OF THE CASE

After twenty years of marriage, a wife moved into a separate bedroom and refused to have sexual intercourse with her husband. This situation continued for two months, at which time she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. During this two-month period, she continued to work outside the home and to cook meals, buy groceries, clean the house and care for the children.

ISSUES PRESENTED

Under what circumstances does a spouse's unjustified withdrawal of sexual intercourse constitute desertion?

HOLDINGS ON THE ISSUES

The withdrawal of sexual intercourse, alone, does not constitute desertion unless it is accompanied by such wilful breach and neglect of other marital duties so as to practically destroy the home life in every true sense.

REASONS FOR THE HOLDINGS

The court reaffirmed the rule of law first developed in the early 1920s. Although the court gave no specific reason for its holding, it did state that a marriage would have to be rendered "well nigh intolerable" before the unjustified withdrawal of sexual intercourse could amount to desertion. This would presumably require evidence either that the withdrawal was permanent or that other marital duties were being neglected, so that the home life was destroyed in every true sense.